Bulldog Bolton

United Nations envoy nominee John Bolton is receiving mixed reviews. I read one or two or more frightening things about the current Undersecretary of State, and he comes across as a bullying lawyer.

On the other hand, I daresay Dr. Fred Newman makes an interesting point:

I know the standard stuff that people know, that he’s Bulldog Bolton, but it makes sense. His is the current American position towards the UN, so why wouldn’t that be the U.S. Representative’s position. He’s not the UN Representative to the UN, he’s Washington’s representative to the UN. I think the critique is sort of overstated.

And Bolton's supporters make a few points, as well. Andrew Sullivan, by no means a Bush Conservative, wrote in Britain's Sunday Times:

Bolton’s real sin is to see the UN for what it is: an assembly of representatives of all world governments — some of which are democratic, some autocratic, and some of which are outright kleptomaniac, genocidal dictators.

This body can sometimes be effective in limited ways, but more often it defends the international status quo and sustains corruption.

Bolton’s deeper sin is to believe that democracy matters, that democratic regimes are more easily dealt with than non-democratic regimes and that institutions — such as the UN — that make no distinction between them have a serious credibility problem.

...

It remains true that Bolton’s visceral suspicion of the UN is not what we usually think of as diplomacy. But the post of UN ambassador has long been a job in which ferocious critics of the UN have found their niche. Remember Jeane Kirkpatrick, President Reagan’s ambassador, or, more pertinently, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the late Democratic senator? When the UN passed its infamous “Zionism is racism” resolution, Moynihan diplomatically stated, “This is a lie.” When Idi Amin addressed the organisation and was granted the same respect and status as a democratic leader, Moynihan called him a “racist murderer”. Somehow the UN and world diplomacy survived this rare outburst of truth.

At a time when the UN needs some tough love, after appalling scandals and impotence, Bolton is not an inexplicable choice, as Kerry stated. He is a potentially inspired one.

With that, Kofi Annan reportedly telling Bolton, "Get yourself confirmed quickly," and other positive revelations, anti-Bolton hysteria is probably as misguided as its anti-Bush relative. He is not a very pleasant diplomat, but he's not a very dangerous one, either. In this case, a bull in a china shop might not be a bad idea.